WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
By Sarada Lahangir
Katha Bangola, 14, from Bolangir
district, too was heldin
captivity by a kiln owner in Warangal district in neighbouringAndhra
Pradesh. She was rescued by the district administration with thehelp
of an NGO last April. (Credit: SaradaLahangir\WFS)
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Bolangir (Women's
Feature Service) - When Basumati Suna, 21, stepped off the train at the
Titlagarh railway station near her home in the tribal belt of Orissa last
September, her joy knew no bounds. She felt she could finally breathe again,
after having led the life of bonded labourer at a brick kiln.
She and her
six-month-old baby were in a batch of 75 migrant workers - which included 40
children - that was rescued from the clutches of a brick kiln owner in
Yet, just a few
months later, Basumati is preparing to leave home once again - this time to work
in a brick kiln in
Basumati knows too
well the conditions of work that face her. "When working in the brick kiln
in
The owner of the kiln
had even sent some money to Basumati's husband as an advance and they went back
in early September 2009. Basumati worked there from September to July 2010,
when she gave birth to her son. Since she herself could no longer work because
of the baby, her husband was made to work even harder, although he was paid
only Rs 100 (US$1=Rs 44.6) a day, which is much lower than the minimum wage.
When the couple
expressed the desire to visit their village, the brick kiln owner got tough and
refused to allow the couple to leave if they did not pay him a sum of Rs
50,000. That was when Basumati's husband decided to escape, get help from the
district administration, and bring the man to book.
There are tears in
Basumati's eyes as she relates this story. She knows there are no happy endings
to stories like this. "We were freed from one hell, but are soon headed
for another," she says.
There are many others
like her in this impoverished tribal belt of Orissa. Even minors are not
spared. Katha Bangola, 14, from Bolangir district, too was held in captivity by
a kiln owner in
A sizeable number of
What many don't
realise is the role played by middlemen in the dismal tableau. These agents are
constantly profiting from the poverty, helplessness and illiteracy of tribal
migrants. They readily advance money, even to the tune of Rs 20,000, and then
force them to live and work in the most oppressive of conditions. This even
leads - as is evident from Basumati's case - to situations of bondage and
slavery. Many die of serious ailments without any recourse to medical help.
Clearly, though, it
is the women who suffer the most in such situations. They are faced with
innumerable problems, including having to give birth and care for children in a
hostile environment. Conditions of housing are abysmal and sanitation
facilities, non-existent. Not that life is easy for those women left behind in
the villages, who have to multi-task perpetually - looking after the elderly in
the family as well as the little ones, even while tilling their land or working
in the local landlord's fields. They often also fall prey to the wiles of
moneylenders and others, and end up being sexually exploited.
As Jamuna Majhi of
Belpada village in Bolangir explains, "We do not get any work locally in
the village except agricultural work, which is also limited because there is
very little arable land. And even when we get work, we do not get full payment
on time. We try to request those who hire us for our legitimate dues, but it is
like trying to get water from a stone. As women, we feel very awkward visiting
these men constantly to get money of them. Sometimes I think it is better to
migrate than work like this."
The data compiled
from migration registers maintained in about 45 villages in three blocks -
Muribahal, Tureikala and Belpada - in Bolangir by the Migration Information and
Resource Centre (MIRC) and Aide et Action, a civil society organisation,
indicates that 0.15 million out of a population of about 1.3 million had
migrated out of the state between November-December 2009 and January 2010. Of
these, about 40 per cent were women.
These are people who
have fallen off the map, but the state government remains complacent. Orissa's
Labour and Employment Minister Puspendra Singh Deo argues that workers migrate,
not because of the failure of government initiatives, but because of their
desire for upwardly mobility. "Workers move out of the state with hopes of
getting better wages," he states.
But the truth is that
migrants generally have no support structure. Even the law does not work for
them. "The law is focused on the regulation of movement rather than on the
welfare and security of people. And the only law - the Interstate Migrant
Workman Act, 1979, formulated with particular focus on western Orissa - applies
solely to people who cross state boundaries," explains B.P. Sharma, an
advocate from Kantabanji in Bolangir district, who has been working with
migrant workers for over two decades. He adds that there is no attempt by the
state to record the names and addresses of migrant workers.
As for national
initiatives ostensibly designed to discourage distress migration - like the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) - they are not
having the desired impact. Says Umi Daniel, Head, Migration Thematic Unit, Aide
et Action, "These so-called poverty alleviation schemes are not being
properly implemented in the areas that need them most, like Bolangir."
As for the women,
everyone agrees that they are the most vulnerable. Amrita Patel, a women's activist based in
Basumati, given her
harrowing experiences as a migrant worker, would certainly agree with her.